2008 Woodie Awards
Teacher of the year illustrates stature of Loyola College
Issue date: 4/15/08 Section: Opinion
As a former student of his, I was tremendously pleased to learn that Dr. Michael Franz was selected as Loyola's Teacher of the Year for 2007-2008. In addition to extending my congratulations to Dr. Franz and his family, I would like to point out two reasons why this year's honoree is an especially appropriate choice for the college.
Dr. Franz epitomizes the liberal-arts ideal of the interdisciplinary teacher. His dedication to the traditional concept of the academy has inspired him to stretch the limits of his discipline, bringing his students an ever-widening array of courses that touch on the human condition. Dr. Franz has the uncanny ability to cast intellectual threads through seemingly disparate eras and minds, drawing the fabric of Western civilization together to reveal the fundamental patterns of human nature.
Second only to his breadth of knowledge is his determination to inspire individual inquiry on the part of students. Rather than summarizing passages or directing his charges to secondary research, Dr. Franz works to make even the most difficult subject matter appear accessible and inviting in the first instance. He does this so his students can engage the primary sources of political thought without relying on the work of previous scholars. In this sense, Dr. Franz does not teach political science; he teaches the philosopher's skill.
Insofar as the goal of our faculty should be to prepare students for a lifetime of independent learning, Dr. Franz is the consummate professor. Vibrant and individualized communication of the power of holistic thinking rarely finds a champion among the elite faculty at larger institutions; too often these professors become disconnected from their students and preoccupied with either ad hoc observationalism or ideological bickering. But despite its relatively small stature, Loyola College can boast that it has professors like Dr. Franz in nearly every department.
We must be careful not to discount the roles that our college's small size and pedagogical philosophy have played in producing this remarkably strong faculty. As our administration begins in earnest to reconsider Loyola's identity as a liberal arts institution, we would do well to explore the reasons why professors like Dr. Franz are held in such high regard by their students.
Dr. Franz, and the countless undergraduates he has guided in his two decades at this institution, stands as an exemplar of why Loyola College should not change its name to reflect its formal status as a university.
Rather, Loyola should consciously resolve to keep its current name, in order to manifestly embrace the meaningful identity that it has earned, and continues to earn every day, in the classrooms where professors like Dr. Franz teach the liberal art of philosophical inquiry.
Paul J. Kremer, '07
Political Science/Economics
Dr. Franz epitomizes the liberal-arts ideal of the interdisciplinary teacher. His dedication to the traditional concept of the academy has inspired him to stretch the limits of his discipline, bringing his students an ever-widening array of courses that touch on the human condition. Dr. Franz has the uncanny ability to cast intellectual threads through seemingly disparate eras and minds, drawing the fabric of Western civilization together to reveal the fundamental patterns of human nature.
Second only to his breadth of knowledge is his determination to inspire individual inquiry on the part of students. Rather than summarizing passages or directing his charges to secondary research, Dr. Franz works to make even the most difficult subject matter appear accessible and inviting in the first instance. He does this so his students can engage the primary sources of political thought without relying on the work of previous scholars. In this sense, Dr. Franz does not teach political science; he teaches the philosopher's skill.
Insofar as the goal of our faculty should be to prepare students for a lifetime of independent learning, Dr. Franz is the consummate professor. Vibrant and individualized communication of the power of holistic thinking rarely finds a champion among the elite faculty at larger institutions; too often these professors become disconnected from their students and preoccupied with either ad hoc observationalism or ideological bickering. But despite its relatively small stature, Loyola College can boast that it has professors like Dr. Franz in nearly every department.
We must be careful not to discount the roles that our college's small size and pedagogical philosophy have played in producing this remarkably strong faculty. As our administration begins in earnest to reconsider Loyola's identity as a liberal arts institution, we would do well to explore the reasons why professors like Dr. Franz are held in such high regard by their students.
Dr. Franz, and the countless undergraduates he has guided in his two decades at this institution, stands as an exemplar of why Loyola College should not change its name to reflect its formal status as a university.
Rather, Loyola should consciously resolve to keep its current name, in order to manifestly embrace the meaningful identity that it has earned, and continues to earn every day, in the classrooms where professors like Dr. Franz teach the liberal art of philosophical inquiry.
Paul J. Kremer, '07
Political Science/Economics
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